Sensius receives € 6.7M from European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator programme
Worldwide, the incidence and number of deaths associated to cancer are rising. Cancer is the most expensive disease globally and the costs continue to increase. Next to the cost of treatment, economic burden is increased by care of toxic effects of the treatment and the reduced ability of patients to the economic process.
Rotterdam-based company Sensius intends to change the way we treat cancer by creating a new balance between therapeutic outcome and quality of life. The addition of Sensius’ thermotherapy to established treatments with radiotherapy, chemotherapy or immunotherapy increases chances of successful treatment and provides the option to reduce the toxic effects of these treatments at the same time.
The European Commission, via its European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund as investment component of the EIC Accelerator, has awarded € 6.7M in equity funding for this approach, after having already granted € 2.5M grant in 2022 for product development to Sensius. “With this funding, the EIC Fund underscores the importance of a new approach to patient-centred cancer treatment, with a keen eye on benefit for both the patient and the total cost of cancer for society”, says Paul van den Biggelaar, CEO and co-founder of Sensius.
With this funding, the EIC Fund makes it more attractive to private investors to participate in Sensius to accomplish its mission to bring its patented technology to a world-wide market. The initial launch is aimed at treatment of Head and Neck Cancer through the FocusCollar product, to be followed by treatment of other cancer types like Breast Cancer through the FocusCup product.
Thermotherapy by Sensius brings fever-like heating of a tumour to routine clinical practice. The knowledge about the positive influence of mild heating of a tumour is ancient and well proven. Before the technology of Sensius, controlled and focused heating was too complex for daily use in oncology clinics. Erasmus University Medical Center developed over the last two decades a new approach through image guided and adaptive treatment planning. Sensius commercialises this technology by making it practical for use through alignment with radiotherapy workflows and economically attractive for use on many tumour types.
“Sensius is supported by Key Opinion Leaders worldwide”, adds Paul van den Biggelaar. “The combined endorsement of the European Commission and these leading oncologists create an attractive investment proposition to create a new balance in cancer treatment.”
Hermann Hauser, member of the EIC Fund Board said, “The European Innovation Council is proud to invest in future category-leading companies and support them in their growth through the combination of grants and equity. This unique feature is helping Europe to bridge the funding gap for highly innovative companies.”
About Sensius
Sensius, a spin-off from Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam the Netherlands, is about to change cancer treatment. Its novel thermotherapy solution can create a new balance by improving both clinical outcome and quality of life, when added to classic treatments like radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The patented technology was developed by clinical researchers over the last two decades. Sensius aims to market its Focus productline with a comprehensive set of solutions for multiple tumor types in the near future, starting with its launching product ‘FocusCollar’ for the treatment of Head and Neck cancer.
For more information, visit www.sensiusthermotherapy and follow @Sensius at linkedin
About the EIC Fund
The European Innovation Council Fund from the European Commission is an agnostic Fund: it invests across all technologies and verticals, and all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon Europe. It provides the investment component of the EIC Accelerator blended finance.
The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies, bridging with and crowding in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding.
The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.
For more information, visit https://eic.ec.europa.eu/investment-opportunities_en